Process Industries Division
What are the Process Industries?
The process industries are those industries where the primary production processes are either continuous, or occur on a batch of materials that is indistinguishable. For example, a food processing company making sauce may make the sauce in a continuous, uninterrupted flow from receipt of ingredients through packaging. Or batches may be produced depending on the cook kettle sizes but immediately combined and re-routed. In either case, there is no concept of a unit of sauce while it is being processed. Examples of the process industries include food, beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, ceramics, base metals, coal, plastics, rubber, textiles, tobacco, wood and wood products, paper and paper products, etc.
For more on the role of industrial engineering in process industries, read "Making Cereal Not Cars," a primer on process industries. This article was published in the December 2008 issue of Industrial Engineer magazine and is available only to IIE members. If you are not a member, join IIE for access to this article as well as additional member-only benefits.
What is the Process Industries Division?
Applying industrial engineering tools in the process industries can vary greatly from applying these same tools in discrete parts manufacturing. The Process Industries Division is a forum for the exchange of ideas in theory and practice of industrial engineering techniques applied to process industries; facilitating greater interactions among industry and academic professionals by organizing.
Call for Leadership Opportunity: Nomination for PID
The Process Industry Division is looking for potential candidates to run for president elect or secretary. The Process Industry Division has a record of providing great value to the IIE community with increasing membership over the years in several PID programs: webinars, student competitions, ISERC, Innovation awards, and the Annual Solutions Conference. This is an opportunity to expand your leadership skills and, of course, you will be supported by the current PID board staff. Nominate someone you know from Industry or Faculty or self-nominate into this exciting opportunity to learn, network and expand the PID.
Send your nominations and your Bio/Resume no later than Feb. 27 to: Luis Armendariz, PID President: LuisArmen100@gmail.com
Upcoming webinars
New Product Development (NPD) Philosophy & Methodology
Feb. 19 | 2 p.m. Eastern time
Presenter: Raymond Rakhshani, Ph.D., University of Southern California
Summary: This presentation is designed for anyone involved in product or system development. It provides fundamental guidelines gleaned from real-world experience, and considers the complete set of issues that should be addressed at each stage of product development. Completeness is important. The guidelines are derived from the experience of some of the best organizations and people, as well as the presenter’s own experience. The end-to-end product development issues will be covered. The presentation is, in simple terms, about how organizations can better prepare themselves to routinely think of everything. It is structured and designed to answer that question, and it is sound and useful for the experienced, as well as, for the graduate engineering students.
More information and registration
Lean Manufacturing: How to Win and Sustain the Gains
March 14 | 2 p.m. Eastern time
Presenter: A. Kris Widdison, California Manufacturing Technology Consulting
Summary: The presenter will provide an overview of lean manufacturing principles, the implementation of lean techniques and discussion of case studies.
More information and registration
Articles
Some process companies really get it!
By Peter L. King
I had the pleasure of spending the early part of this week with a company that has spent the last ten years trying to become lean - and what they have been able to accomplish is really impressive! This is a company with several manufacturing sites, with operations that place them clearly in the middle of what we call the process industries. While consultant-client privilege prevents me from giving much in the way of details, I can tell you this ... Read more
Monthly PID Advisory Board telephone meetings
The PID board holds a one-hour call each month, both to discuss administrative details (approximately 20 minutes) and to conduct a roundtable discussion on a topic of current interest to IEs (20-30 minutes). All PID members are welcome to participate.
If you'd like to be added to the distribution list for these calls, please contact Luis Armendariz. Or just dial in using this information:
Day: Second Monday of each month
Time: Noon Eastern time
Toll free call-in number: (866) 951-1151
(Toll free numbers are also available for outside the U.S. - contact me to get a number for your location.)
Conference room number: 7215762
PID Personnel News
If you have an award, publication, promotion, etc., share the news with your colleagues in PID. Email to luisarmen100@gmail.com.
Recorded webinars
Product Wheels and Inventory Planning
Which Continuous Improvement Methodology Should I Choose? The iTLS Story
Lean Techniques Applied to Packaging of Process Goods
Value Stream Costing in the Process Industries ("Accounting to See")
Industrial Enginering Applications of Rapid Prototyping
Recognizing and Managing Bottlenecks in Process Plant
Developing Product Wheels for Process Industry Operations
5S in the Process Industries
OEE: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Lean and OEE)
Kaizen Events as Lean Six Sigma Projects
Safety in the Process Industries
Work Measurement and Lean Applications in the Process Industries
Value Stream Mapping in the Process Industries
Simulation in the Process Industries
Determining Economic Production Quantities (EPQ) in a Continuous Process: A Case Study
SMED in the Process Industries; Webinar PDF
Industrial engineers have always had to adapt to diverse work environments ranging from automotive assembly plants to steel-making foundry operations. One work environment that has been historically challenging to IEs has been within what are known as the process industries. Unlike traditional parts manufacturing and assembly operations, the process industry has inherent challenges that must be overcome for IE tools to be effective. Member only content - please log in to view. Get information on joining IIE.
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